THE “NUTCRACKER” MARCHES ON; LOCAL PRODUCTIONS FIND MANY WAYS TO INTERPRET AND REINVENT THE EVERGREEN CHRISTMAS CLASSIC
Come winter, dance performances become a gathering of families. The 19th-century tale of “The Nutcracker,” by Prussian law officer and writer E.T.A. Hoffman, is as much a holiday standard as snowflakes and Santa Claus – even more so in the temperate Bay Area. Several companies do oblige in providing supplements…
FROM BEHIND THE VEIL; BAY AREA MUSLIM WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES, THEIR BELIEFS AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS ELSEWHERE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Looking at the SUVs corralled in the driveway of the Lafayette home, one would suspect a meeting of mothers. Indeed, inside preschoolers race around with toy fire engines, eat chunks of mango and learn to make tornadoes out of plastic bottles. Thursday is “arts projects day” for these children and…
CRAFTY DOINGS AFOOT; FAIRS AND SHOWS OFFER ARTS, EDIBLES AND SO MUCH MORE
For her birthday, Johnna David didn’t want dinner or a trip. Instead, she asked her husband for an electric saw. The upgrade was needed for Seasons Boutique, her year-round holiday workshop, a family-and-friend operation that has grown from two sisters to eight craftswomen. For the last 15 years, shoppers have…
MIFEPRISTONE; WHAT’S HAPPENED TO RU-486 DURING ITS FIRST YEAR IN THE U.S.?
Results According to the Kaiser Family Foundation 2001 national survey, which was given to 595 gynecologists and 195 general practice physicians over the phone, 6 percent of gynecologists and 1 percent of general practitioners offered drug-induced (also referred to as medical) abortions. Another 16 percent of gynecologists and 7 percent…
MARITIME SEEKS NEW HALL TO ROCK
No trick, and no treat. Tired of paying high rents, venerable San Francisco music venue Maritime Hall has announced it will close its doors on Halloween, although operators are looking for a new site. The music club and production studios will vacate the former merchant meeting house after a six-year…
A YEN FOR STARDOM; HONG KONG LEADING MAN IS MAKING THE LEAP TO STATESIDE CINEMA
All a boy needs to know about martial arts, Donnie Yen learned from his mother. It helps that his mother, Bow Sim Mark, is one of the leading martial artists in America. She began training Yen as soon as he could totter on two feet. Lessons didn’t ease up after…
No more dubs: What subtitles could mean in the language of cinema
A minor cultural revolution is taking place in American theaters. Words. No, not well-written scripts _ that would be a major upheaval. We’re talking the written word splayed on the lower half of a movie screen. To cash in on the action spurred by “The Matrix” and buoyed by “Crouching…
FANS WILL GO BANANAS OVER “IRON MONKEY”
With “The Matrix” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” phenomena, American studios have begun raiding the vaults of Hong Kong cinema, ironically years after its last golden age. The first movie has sparked interest in choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping’s other films, hence the re-release of his 1993 directorial turn, “Iron Monkey.” An…
WORD UP; UP ON THE SCREEN, THAT IS, THANKS TO ANG LEE
A MINOR CULTURAL revolution is taking place in American theaters. Words. No, not well-written scripts — that would be a major upheaval. We’re talking the written word splayed on the lower half of a movie screen. To cash in on the action spurred by “The Matrix” and buoyed by “Crouching…
PEOPLE
Clooney, Zellweger officially a couple Sweet-faced Renee Zellweger and the matrimonially disinclined George Clooney are now officially confirmed as an item. The two apparently had a flirtatious exchange at her 32nd birthday party last May, but Clooney was still hooked up with British model and MTV personality Lisa Snowdon. Clooney,…